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Is January really half over? Where has the time gone? It has really warmed up here in Ohio this week. Hope it has where you are, too. Monday night we went out to dinner at Columbus Fish Market to celebrate my birthday with my Dad, step mom & little sister. The dinner was so good – I had Chilean sea bass, steamed veggies, salad (with dates & pine nuts) and raspberry sorbet. I really enjoy eating at the CFM because they have an extensive gluten-free menu and are well versed on the diet. You can see another post on CFM here. I loved the sea bass so much that I checked Whole Foods for it on Wednesday & was astounded by the price. Are you sitting down? $21.99/pound! OUCH! I guess it would be one thing for a special occasion and if I knew how to prepare it without screwing it up, but I just can’t go there. Speaking of birthdays, I got the Yaktrax that I so desired from my Dad & family! I am so excited to try them out! Figures it warms up & the snow disappears when I finally have the gear to use outside. Well, if that is all it takes to keep the snow away…..LOL! Wishful thinking on my part.

Esther at Lilac Kitchen is hosting this week’s gluten-free menu swap and her ingredient choice is: parsnips. Wow, I have never made parsnips, but they have piqued my interest after seeing several other bloggers making fries out of them. I love fries in any shape or form, so I just may grab some parsnips & give them a try this week. I have made sweet potato fries, butternut squash fries, yucca fries & rutabaga fries. I am interested in seeing what the other bloggers do with parsnips.

If you would like to help out those suffering in Haiti, there are several ways to do this. You can “Dress down for Haiti“. Lauren, at Celiac teen is collecting recipes from bloggers (gluten-free or not) and putting together an ebook to help raise money for those in need. And lastly, onate money right to the Red Cross. You can do so via their website or by texting “Haiti” to 90999 and $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill.

I have spent the last few days looking back over the year. I wanted to put into one post my favorite gluten-free recipes & products of the year. I hope that you guys enjoy this as much as I did putting it together.

I love to experiment with food, if you haven’t noticed. I love to try to recreate old favorites and I love to try new things. This year I found some products that were so close to their gluten-filled counterparts. One of these products is La Tortilla Factory Teff Wraps. These wraps are awesome. They don’t crack! I have used them for sandwich wraps, burritos, chimichangas etc. They hold up. Another product is Udi’s Gluten-free Bread. This stuff is the best gluten-free bread I have ever tasted, hands down. Their other products are amazing as well – love the pizza crust! I am very excited that my local health food store, Raisin Rack, will be carrying their stuff soon. Bob’s Red Mill has a great gluten-free pizza mix out now. It has quickly become one of our favorites here at home. I especially like it Buffalo Chicken style.

Some companies are making it increasingly easier to eat gluten-free. I think main one that comes to my mind is General Mills. This year they have really expanded the gluten-free cereal market to include a number of Chex cereals. They also have the new Betty Crocker line of gluten-free baking mixes. General Mills has started to use “gluten-free” on the back of their labels a lot more, making things even easier. I just recently noticed the gluten-free Progresso Soups are now labeled as such.

Gluten-free pizza used to be hard to find. Not only was it hard to find a good crust to make or buy, but it was virtually impossible to find a restaurant that made gluten-free pizza. This year there have been huge breakthroughs on this front. First, there was Uno’s Chicago Grill implementing their gluten-free crust in all of their locations, nationwide. Then, we discovered Boston’s Gourmet Pizza. Boston’s has a larger choice of toppings and the crust stands up a little better than Uno’s. Finally, we hit the jackpot – Z Pizza. Z Pizza has an amazing selection of gluten-free pizzas & toppings, not to mention salad, gluten-free beer and gluten-free cookies. I think that is is my favorite place to eat gluten-free pizza out.

Moving along to recipes. Below I have listed some of my favorites from 2009. I have many more favorites posted throughout my blog from years past.

Naomi & her staff at Better Batter were kind enough to send me some free samples of Better Batter Flour and Better Batter Pancake & Baking Mix. I will review the Pancake & Baking Mix in another post. I want to concentrate now on the flour mix. The samples came to me in just the nick of time. I had begun to prepare a batch of chocolate chip cookies for Aaron’s boss and discovered that I was out of flour. Normally when I make cookies for his boss, I don’t make them gluten-free. I usually keep a bag of flour on hand for times like this. When I went to grab the flour, it was gone. Aaron had tossed it out thinking it was “old”. I then remembered that I had just received the Better Batter flour mix and decided that I would use that. What better way to test a product than to serve to someone who doesn’t eat gluten-free & begs for my chocolate chip cookies?

I couldn’t wait to taste these cookies. They smelled like heaven while baking. The kids were gathering in the kitchen like sharks around their prey. The result? ” Freakin’ amazing”, to quote Jon. I had to agree. Hannah said they were like heaven. I tried them right out of the oven, then warm, then cold. Really, they just kept getting better. I have made this recipe many times with other flour mixes and while they are still pretty darn good, I was very impressed by the Better Batter Flour. The true test was yet to come – Aaron’s boss.

Aaron gave the cookies to his boss the next day and didn’t tell him they were gluten-free until after he took a bite. He didn’t realize they were gluten-free until Aaron told him! Success!

Better Batter Flour is a little more expensive than some of the other GF flour mixes out there, but the end result is worth it and it does already have xanthan gum in the mix, so you can save a little money by not having to buy it to add to your baking.

I also used the mix to make Gingersnaps. Again, fantastic! Exact same texture as non-GF gingersnaps.

Do you like french fries? We love them here. Usually I make them myself buy cutting up either regular or sweet potatoes, spritzing with olive oil, seasoning & baking in the oven. However, in these times, sometimes dinners are rushed. McCain Potatoes has a gluten-free list on their site. My kids love the Smiles & Tasti Taters.

Phew….last week was so busy! It was nice to just relax & lay low over the weekend. This week should be relaxing for the most part, too. We don’t typically go out on New Year’s Eve. Heck, I don’t know the last time I stayed up until midnight! LOL! The kids are still out of school this week & we only have 2 extracurricular activities going on, so dinners should be fairly straight forward.

The GF CF Cookbook is hosting this week’s gluten-free menu swap. The ingredient of the week is leftover ham. We don’t have anymore leftover ham, but we did and we used it in a varieties of ways. Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, ham & cheese omelettes and salad with chopped up ham in it.

Is it over yet? Seriously, I just want to sit down & read my book! LOL! Also, as much as I can’t believe that I am saying this, I think I am done with the Christmas music. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but when they start playing it right after Halloween, the novelty wears out before Christmas. I won’t ever tire of watching Elf, though. Seriously, love that movie & think that it is Will Farrell’s best role ever. There couldn’t be a more perfect Elf.

So, what is on the menu this week. Thursday night, Christmas Eve, we are hosting dinner for family at our house. There will be plenty of yummy treats, including many, many cookies to go around. Dinner will be Perfect Pork Tenderloin and Ham served along with a salad, roasted vegetables and rolls of some kind. Appetizers will be shrimp cocktail, the now demanded Buffalo Chicken Dip and a vegetable tray to balance things out. Wine will be a flowing, as will some fun mixed cocktails involving some Stoli’s vodka. Christmas day dinner will be at my Dad’s house. He is roasting a turkey with all the fixings, gluten-free, of course. I will be bringing the dessert – a gingerbread cake. Breakfast on Christmas morning is usually whatever you can get your hands on in between the opening of the mountain of gifts. Sometimes I pull out pumpkin bread or muffins from the freezer. This year I have a couple of gluten-free mixes that I have been sent to sample that I may make.

Cheryl at Gluten-free Goodness is hosting this week’s gluten-free menu swap. The theme is Christmas/Hanukkah/Winter Solstice. Make sure to stop by & say “Hi” and check out all the great menus.

One of my all-time favorites, the Thumbprint Cookie. I loved to make these as a child. I loved to press my thumb down into the middle of the cookie. Filling a warm cookie with jelly or jam and a glass of ice cold milk made the best bedtime snack.

This year I am adding a healthy twist to the Thumbprint Cookies – I am replacing the walnuts (not that they aren’t healthy) with flaxseed meal. I saw a recipe on Eating Well called “Fig & Flax Thumbprint Cookies”, so I decided to add the flax twist to my own.

These cookies caught my eye when I was browsing the Cooking Light website. Jon loves lemon cookies, bars, cake, etc. He was thrilled when he left for school this morning that I was making these today. These turned out really good. They have a unique texture due to the cornmeal in them. The lemon flavor is slight, but pairs well with the ginger. A nice after dinner treat!

1 cup gluten-free flour mix – I used Carol’s Sorghum Mix (about 4 1/2 ounces, which was less than a cup)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 4 ingredients (through ground ginger); stir with a whisk. Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Scrape sides of the bowl occasionally. Add egg; beat well. Beat in grated lemon rind. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and beat at medium-low speed just until blended.

3. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons batter 2 inches apart onto 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes (I checked mine at 10 and they were done) or until lightly browned and almost firm. Remove from oven. Cool on pans for 2 minutes or until firm. Remove from pans. Cool completely on a wire rack.